


Snow Job (2011)

by JennyB



Series: Advent 2011 [21]
Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Advent Challenge 2011, Introspection, Podfic Available, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-21
Updated: 2011-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:51:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennyB/pseuds/JennyB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected snowstorm is the perfect way to even an old score.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Job (2011)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Advent Challenge 2011. Prompt: Blizzard.
> 
> Podfic (by the lovely Kansouame ♥♥) here: [Take a Listen!](http://www.mediafire.com/?3dd04fx96ur6f9h)

Nii stood on the balcony, a cigarette dangling precariously from his lips. He stared off in the distance, obviously lost in his thoughts as his thumb idly stroked the velvety fur on Hunny Bunny's head. It was a beautiful winter night at Houtou Castle. The moon was full and a warm breeze ruffled through the doctor's bangs. "This is wrong," he muttered to the plushie as he leaned his forearms against the wrought iron. "The moon has no right to be gloating. Not tonight. Not on this anniversary." His eyes narrowed as he gazed out at the horizon and a moment later, a hint of a smirk curved his lips upward. He took a drag off his cigarette and his eyes slowly shifted to the sky when dark clouds began to shadow the moon. "Much better," he murmured as he pursed his lips together and exhaled slowly before turning to rest his back against the railing.

"How long has it been now, Koumyou?" He smiled darkly, torn between feeling longing and hatred for the man. "It seems like a lifetime ago that we sat together in that cabin, watching the snow fall outside, and drinking hot sake to stay warm." His expression turned briefly lascivious. "Finding _other_ creative ways to generate heat." He finished his cigarette and flicked the butt over the balcony, but made no move to head back inside. After a couple of minutes had ticked past, he felt a drastic drop in the air temperature, and a more aggressive wind fluttered through his hair and snapped at the ends of his lab coat. His smile widened and his eyes glittered darkly. "You were surprised that night, both by how much you wanted me and how readily I ceded to you. You said it was the wine. That I was too inexperienced to understand such complicated emotions. You gave so many reasons, and yet never the truth. I know what I saw in your eyes, and what I heard you murmur as you'd taken me. You were gloriously powerless that night, but everything changed once you could hide behind your protective shield of daylight. You cheated. That is not how the game was supposed to be played."

"Doctor Nii? Where have you been?" Doctor Huang poked her head out the open door, and when he merely smiled and waved at her, she stepped outside. "We do have work to finish."

"I know, Miss Huang," he drawled as he gave her a dismissive flick of his wrist. "I'm on a break."

"Your life is one perpetual break," she muttered, and as a shiver ran up her spine, she remarked, "It's getting cold out here!"

"Mmhmm, I noticed," Nii replied, making a point of staring deliberately at her breasts and then snickering when she flushed and crossed her arms as she pulled her lab coat tighter around her body.

"What are you even doing out here? You're usually content to smoke wherever you please."

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting," she repeated, her voice flat. He nodded, and she asked, "For what?"

He gave her a cryptic smile as he fumbled in his lab coat for another cigarette, and after he'd lit it, he held his smoke between two fingers and pointed skyward. "That."

She frowned. "How can such a brilliant scientist be such an idiot?" she murmured, though both her brows shot upwards when she saw the first few white flakes drift down from the sky. "Is that...snow?"

"Mmhmm. Looks like."

"But...this is India!" she exclaimed. "We don't get snow in this part of the country!"

"Well, I know who to call if I'm ever in need of a geographer," Nii drawled, ignoring the withering glare he got for his remark. "But you are wrong about one thing, Miss Huang. Obviously, we _do_ get snow here."

"Well, I've never seen it!"

"Never is such an absolute, and completely flaws your hypothesis. Again, I call your attention to the fact that we're both watching it fall right now. Honestly Miss Huang, are you even familiar with the scientific method at all?"

Her jaw clenched in irritation, and she wisely changed the subject. "Is this one of your experiments, Doctor?" she asked, giving him a suspicious look.

He shook his head, and he grabbed one of Hunny Bunny's paws. "He's a bioengineer, not a meteorologist," he said in a falsetto voice, and after he kissed the plushie lovingly on the top of the head, he turned his eyes to her. "Besides Miss Huang, what would be the point of this, hm?"

"I--" She studied him for a moment, and then she nodded. "Valid point." She turned her attention away from him. The snow had become a veritable blizzard by this point. Visibility was practically nil and the big, fluffy flakes were starting to rapidly accumulate on the ground. "It's unusual to see, but regardless, it's pretty," she said finally.

"Do you think so?" he asked as he tipped his head back so that he could look behind him. "Hmm, I'd say it's pure and it's cold and it's silent." 

She snorted. "How clinical. I prefer 'peaceful'."

"Whatever you'd like to call it." A dark chuckle escaped him. "It's perfect."

"You have a strange idea of perfection, Doctor." She stood there for a few minutes, just watching the storm with him, and then she turned to head back inside. "I'd advise against staying out here much longer. You'll freeze to death." Her eyes darkened and she smirked. "That would be a shame."

"See you later, Miss Huang. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way in." Nii smiled wickedly as he waved good bye to her with Hunny Bunny's paw, and when he could no longer hear the click of her heels, he turned to face the storm. As he flicked his cigarette away and exhaled his lungful of smoke, he laughed. "You were the one who pushed me away, Koumyou. I haven't forgotten. I said I couldn't live without you. You told me I'd survive. It looks like we were both right." He looked skyward, searching for the moon, and he laughed again when he couldn't see it. "The night still hasn't managed to swallow the moon, but I've found a way to at least make it go away for a while. _Muichi motsu_ , Koumyou hoshi-sama. I can't pine for idyllic things like the moon if I can't see them." His smile faded, his expression becoming serious. "Looks like I found a way to cheat, too. So for tonight, we'll consider it a draw."

He turned on his heel and headed inside. "It only seems fair."


End file.
